Thank you our 2024 Christmas Big Give donors
The process from fundraising to project completion goes through several stages of preparation, planning and delivery. Following a successful Big Give Campaign in December 2024 we decided to send our stove building team to Monkey Bay. Monkey Bay is a challenge for us because of distance and logistics and also because many of the the villages are large. We often don’t have sufficient funds to build in villages with more than 100 households.
Kamphande village has been on our target list for a long time but with 327 households it looked impossible for us. In April, using funds from the Big Give campaign we sent our stove building team to Monkey Bay. The villagers were overjoyed as our team built 164 Esperanza stoves for those who were able to prepare kitchens and we distributed the portable gamba tinsmith stove to all 327 households.
The photo shows a nearly completed Esperanza stove built by Godfrey Chipeta.
Kamphande village is surrounded by water and heavily dependent on fishing and agriculture. Firewood is increasingly difficult to access with some villagers walking up to three hours to collect it.
Earlier this year we introduced a change to our strategy with the aim of providing all households with two stoves - the fixed Esperanza and the portable GTS stove - click here. Since cyclone Freddy in 2023, the high cost of fertiliser caused by the Ukraine war and inflation in Malawi of over 30% for the last two years, we have noticed that more and more households are struggling to build kitchens. Unreliable rains have also contributed to much reduced harvests and poverty is increasing.
Therefore, alongside this stove intervention we have also introduced Kamphande village to our Tiyeni programme. Tiyeni is a growing method that does not use chemical fertiliser, restores the soil and although it requires a massive amount of work in the first year there is much less work required in years 2, 3 and 4.
The Tiyeni training was delivered by our Environment Director Richard Malili. Mbedza provided funding for 20 households to be trained but on the day 56 people turned up. Richard said ‘it has been hard for me to send the people back. I just welcomed them and it has been a positive response from the community. The pulling factor is the high cost of chemical fertilizers here in Malawi and also loss of soil fertility in many fields.’
The Esperanza produced many smiles at Kamphande. These women will benefit from 60% less firewood consumption and on average 52 hours per month in saved wood collecting times and cooking times. This stove brings an end to burn injuries. On the right is the daughter of the chief, her mother is below far left.
The lady on the left is Mayi Mfumu, the wife of the village head of Kamphande. She told us “I struggled to cook using mafuwa (three stones) because of my eye condition. The heavy smoke made cooking unbearable, forcing me to rely on my children to prepare meals - something that makes me deeply frustrated. Thanks to Mbedza for these wonderful stoves. I can cook side by side with my daughter, making meal preparation faster and easier”.